Saturday, January 16, 2016

Saul was a young man of about 30 years old when he was chosen by the Lord. He was the handsomest man in all of Israel, and taller than everybody as well! Unfortunately he was not very confident, he actually hid among baggage when the prophet Samuel wanted to proclaim him King over Israel. In the 10th chapter of 1 Samuel, the prophet takes a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul's head. He said to Saul that God was anointing him as commander over all His heritage. What is God's heritage? His people. We are God's heritage, His valuable possession.

If we are parents, leaders in an organization or church, managers or supervisors, teachers, government employees, etc., each one of us are given God's people and God's work to take care of. We need to invite the Holy Spirit and His anointing to bless us in this responsibility. This will definitely change our thinking, discerning, our awareness, and our attitude. We need the grace of God in whatever we do. Grace is "unmerited favor". We do not deserve or have no claim on His goodness and mercy. We should have no reason to expect His blessings. But His divine favor is upon us because He loves us. As good stewards of the MANIFOLD grace of God, each of us should use whatever gift we have received to serve one another. (1 Peter 4:10)

I was reading something on Facebook yesterday from my brother's wall- "We don't have to be ready for anything that comes our way in life. We grow into whichever paths we walk down with curious, open hearts." This is so true in my case. I have been working in our family business for almost 50 years, and I am still learning. I never took any business courses, and find it difficult to understand the financial statement. My mind can get blank when I read contracts or BIR regulations. We got into big trouble with the BIR because I just signed a letter our accountant wrote without reading it. But I believe God put me where I am. No one poured olive oil on my head, thank goodness, but I know I would not survive or be happy without the grace of God, His Holy Spirit empowering me. My mother and I have a favorite verse- Psalm 127:1 "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain, who build it." Unless the Lord is building our business, our life, our family, we will labor in vain!

"Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?" 1 Samuel 4:3

Why did God allow 9/11? Why does God not put a stop to Isis terrorizing people so that they need to leave their homes and become refugees? Why are there so many incurable diseases? Why the 9.0 earthquake in Japan and the horrific tsunami that followed? Why did God not heal my mother? Philip Yancey has been trying to answer this question in his books and talks around the world for years. So many people, so many Christians want to know why? Why does God allow suffering? And trials. And although there are no simple answers, Yancey says that God makes use of suffering. He 'recycles' it, in the same way a technician can mine an old computer and remove the parts that can be redeemed.

In his book "Why? The Question that Never Goes Away", Yancey gives the example of Michael J. Fox who has been dealing with the ravaging effects of Parkinson's disease since he was 29 years old. After 7 years of complaining, whining, being depressed, and in denial, Michael decided his illness was a "gift". He said that these years are the best years of his life, not in spite of his illness but because of it. He used to be driven and ambitious, but now he is more reflective and compassionate of others. He claimed he would never want to go back to the life he lived before- "fueled by fear and made livable by insulation, isolation, and self-indulgence.' He also said, "The one choice I don't have is whether or not I have it. But beyond that, my choices are infinite." Yes, God allows suffering and trials to come into our life. We do not have a choice about that, but we can choose to see it as a gift, and redeem the gold hidden in it.

3 comments:

Such a cool idea to draw on magazines! Makes for a lovely back ground and an interesting design. I am new in the blog world and new to PPF--nice to meet you. I am happy to find new art friends and glad to say I am a new follower. xo Dea

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Welcome to my blog HeARTworks! Greetings from the Philippines! My name is Patsy and I've been married for 19 years to a man with a good heart. We have one son who is as funny as his dad. I have been working in our family business, papemelroti, since I was 11. When I get home from work, I stay in my craft room and make collages, scrapbook layouts, ATCs, and think of ways to re-use things normal people would throw away. I would be happy for you to use anything on my blog, but please link to me and leave me a comment. I want to be passionate about God's passions so I also made a blog, Hebrews 13:3, about our service in the QC Jail.